Lesbian poet Nikky Finney won the 2011 National Book Award for poetry for her collection Head Off & Split. Finney was presented the poetry award on Wednesday, November 16 at the National Book Foundation sponsored ceremony in New York,NY.

Finney was not the only person from the LGBTQ community to receive an award that night, iconic poet John Ashbery was presented the foundation’s lifetime achievement award, the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.

Please make sure you check out Finney’s fantastic acceptance speech in the video below (her speech starts at 17:26).